Hannah’s Son of Service – 1 Sam 1:1-28, 3:19-4:1a, 7:3ff, 7:15, 12:1-3 12:23, 16:13

So far, this advent season we looked at the promised child of Abraham and saw how God had promised Abraham one who would continue the family line.  How his promised son would be specially chosen by God to be the one to propagate the promises of blessing to the people.  We saw how that corresponds to Jesus Christ as the descendant of Abraham, the Seed to whom all God’s promises were made and how we can be inheritors of the promise by being in Christ, too.

Last week we explored John the Baptist’s promised birth to Zechariah ad Elizabeth, descendants of both Aaron the High Priest and Samuel the great prophet, priest and judge we are going to explore today. John came to preach repentance and to prepare a people ready for God to be built into a building and readied into an army.  But Jesus actually builds us into the Temple of God, his flesh and body in the world, and his army to proclaim peace between God and men to a dying world.

This week we are looking at Hannah’s son, Samuel. Although there is a striking difference between Samuel and the other promised children we are exploring this Advent season.  Abraham was promised a son, so was Elizabeth whom we studied last week, and Eve who we will study on Christmas day.  But Hannah was never promised a son by God, rather she promised her son to God.

This makes her story different than the other promised children, but powerful this Advent season nevertheless.  Let’s quickly move through the setting of the story, Elkanah has two wives: Hannah and Peninnah. “Etymologically, Hannah means something like “charming,” reflecting the fact that she was the loved one [which verse 5 tells us]; Peninnah may mean something like “prolific” or “fecund,” corresponding to her role as the wife who bore children [verse 4 – he would give portions of meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters].”[1]

So, every year these 3 characters and the rest of the family head out to Shiloh to worship, and inevitably the family dynamics kick up and life becomes difficult to unbearable for someone, it just so happens that Hannah always happens to be this someone. 1Sam. 1:7 tells us, “This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.”  So Hannah prays to God asking, begging God for a son.  Just one, give me a child, she pleads and if God will but answer this one prayer, then she vows, “…I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head” (1Sam. 1:11).

How many of us have heard the stories about the crisis prayers.  People facing death who beg God to get them out of this difficulty and I will worship you forever.  Or provide me the money to make all my bills God and I will give to the next person who asks me for help.  Or something else that is pleaded for and promised.  The only problem with these “deals” is that rarely do people follow through with them.  But not Hannah, she pleads the Word tells us, amidst tears and pain, promising something more difficult than most of us would ever consider.  She asks promises to give up the very thing she given, to hand him over to God to be a Son of Service in the House of the Lord.  Hannah’s child is promised to be a Son of Service.  And she follows through with her word. 

She raises him and weans him and then takes him to the Tabernacle at Shiloh and presents him to Eli the priest saying, ““As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he (Samuel) worshiped the Lord there.” (1 Sam 1:26-28).

This is where I want us to really start digging in.  What is the promised Son to do?  Who is this promised Son to be?  Let’s start with the second question first.  Who is this promised son to be? He is to be given to the Lord wholly and completely.  He is to be God’s child, the Lord’s possession.  He is to take his orders from the Lord and his direction from the Lord.  He is to be a servant of the Lord and to be used by the Lord as the Lord sees fit.  The closest analogy we get for a person being given to the Lord is in Leviticus 27.  In this chapter, Moses is telling the people what happens if vows are made.  In the first part, he is speaking specifically of “a special vow to dedicate persons to the Lord by giving equivalent values,” (Lev. 27:2).  So we can see that one given to the Lord is to be dedicated, single-mindedly set upon serving the Lord and his work.  That is who he is to be.  But then a few verses later we also learn that those things, which are vowed, are holy and cannot be exchanged.  To give something to God is a one-time decision without recourse to re-evaluation or change.  Listen to the words from Lev 27:9-10 “If what he vowed is an animal that is acceptable as an offering to the Lord, such an animal given to the Lord becomes holy. He must not exchange it or substitute a good one for a bad one, or a bad one for a good one; if he should substitute one animal for another, both it and the substitute become holy.”

So the promised Son, Samuel, is to be given to God, holy, single-mindedly centered on God’s will and God’s way.  He is to be a child of the King Eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God.  His life is to be wrapped up in God’s life and God’s ways.  Therefore, he must be attentive to the voice of God.  This is who he is to be. 

So from this description of the character of one given to the Lord, we can return to our first question.  What is the promised Son to do?  The author of this book tells us, “He worshiped the Lord there.”  The promised Son given to God worships.  This is going to mean he sacrifices, he prays, he instructs, he sings, he thanks the Lord.  Every one of these activities is part of the life of worship, the life of one given over to the Lord.  For Samuel is to be a prophet, a spokesman for God.  His words are to ring true with God’s words.  He is to speak God’s word to the people as one devoted to the Lord.  And that is exactly what he does, beginning with his words to Eli concerning his wayward sons Phineas and Hophni and their immanent deaths and continuing throughout his life. 

1Sam. 3:19-4:1 tell us, “The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.  4:1 And Samuel’s word came to all Israel.”    Thus the promised child was to be prophet, a voice of God to the people, telling them how to live and worship.  Directing their steps.

But he was also to do a priest’s job of facilitating worship, offering sacrifices and praying for nation.  This Samuel illustrates in the 7^th chapter where he calls Israel back from worshipping false gods, the prophetic side of his life, but which he goes beyond to offering a “suckling lamb…as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him” (1Sam. 7:9).

But the priest and the prophet also teach the people, which Samuel illustrates in his dealings with Saul, the errant king, in 1Sam. 12:23 “As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.”  As a priest he also anoints the Leaders of the country, first Saul (1Sam. 10:1) Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him, saying, “Has not the Lord anointed you leader over his inheritance?”; then David, (1Sam. 16:13) So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power.

But Samuel does one other task in his life as one devoted to God.  He leads the people of Israel honestly and fairly.  He began by leading them out of oppression to the Philistines in chapter 7, and the 15^th verse tells us, “Samuel continued as judge (leader) over Israel all the days of his life.”  He led them faithfully and delicately, honestly and fairly which the word attests in chapter 12:2-3f  “2 Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have been your leader from my youth until this day. 3 Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these, I will make it right.”  And the people affirm that Samuel has done none of these things.  He has been a good leader, and while Samuel would shudder at this title, King.  I believe it is an appropriate designation.  Samuel was given over to the Lord and although God didn’t promise him nevertheless, as one promised to, dedicated to God he did the work of a prophet, a priest and a king or ruler.

Samuel is an excellent promised child of Hannah’s as we look forward to the birth of the Savior Jesus Christ – the Prophet, the Priest, and the King who surpasses Samuel’s character and function in every way. For Jesus not only spoke God’s word to the people, he was God’s Word.  John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14).  Where the prophet spoke God’s word, Jesus was the actual word speaking not on behalf of God, but speaking as God.  Where the old prophets said, “Thus sayeth the Lord…”, Jesus said, “You have heard it said, but I say to you…”

Jesus[2] is the great prophet; in fact he is greater than any prophet, for he was the Son. Hebrews 3:5-6 “Moses was faithful as a servant (Moses was a prophet, speaking God’s word to the people) in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house.” The parallel is to be prophet-son, servant-son.  Jesus is greater.

But Jesus is also the priest.  Not only did he offer sacrifice, but the sacrifice was himself, a perfect sacrifice Hebrews 10:4 tells us, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins…Heb. 4:14 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess…Heb. 10:12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13 Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14 because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy…Heb. 9:12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”  Jesus is our great high priest.

When the OT priests like Samuel entered into the holy place, the people could not go in with them, but now, the curtain has been torn in two, and we are ushered into his presence. Heb. 6:19-20 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. Jesus entered before us, as a forerunner, or first runner, so that we may follow him into God’s presence which is exactly what Heb10:19-20 tell us: “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body…”

And where the old covenant priests could only pray for one person at a time and hear one person’s request from God at a time, Jesus as our priest can always intercede for us, continually praying for us, always making intercession for us as Hebrews 7:25 and Romans 8:34 affirm, Heb. 7:25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Rom. 8:34 …Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

And He is also the King, or ruler extraordinaire.  As a king, he exercises authority over God’s people, ruling the creation, building his church and ensuring that the gates of hell will not prevail:

Matt. 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Eph. 1:19-22 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,

Phil. 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

Rev. 19:16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

He is the promised child of God, who exceeds anything that man can ever promise back to God.  So what are we to make of this promised child who is superior to Hannah’s son, Samuel?  We are to imitate him.  You heard me, we are to copy him and act in our feeble ways, under his power as the new prophets, priests and kings of this earth by evangelizing the world and thereby speaking the truth of God’s word to a dying world.  We are to disciple one another, thereby speaking the truth of God’s word to fellow believers for 2Tim. 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

We are to intercede for one another, for the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective, James 5:16 tells us.  We are to offer sacrifices of praise and sacrifices of good works as the priests we have been proclaimed according to Hebrews 13:15-16 and 1 Pt 2:5 and 2:9:

Heb. 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

1Pet. 2:5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

We are to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship (Rom. 12:1).

Furthermore, we are to exercise the authority of Christ over one another, serving one another, resisting the devil, stewarding our resources for God’s kingdom and God’s people.  Raising our families to know and love God above all other things in this world.  Advancing the reign of God in our employment, for our final destiny is to reign with God forever and ever.  Rev. 22:5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they (speaking of the church, the body of believers) will reign for ever and ever.

People of God, Christ is coming, greater than the child Hannah promised to serve in God’s presence.  He is the prophet, the priest and the King Almighty, so go out as little prophets, priests and kings in your own spheres, for the word promises,

Rev. 3:21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.

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[1] WBC, 1 Samuel 1:1-3 Commentary section.

[2] The section on Jesus as prophet, priest and king and how we are called to the same 3 offices come from a lecture by Wayne Grudem at Scottsdale Bible in 2007.  The mp3’s are on my computer.

Nothing less than perfect obedience - 1 Samuel 15

Let me tell you a story of a man who knew God’s will and yet struggled to implement it into his life.

This man had a house in which he took in stray animals.  He knew that God had called him to care for every stray animal he found along the way. Whether it was a lion, or a puppy, a bird or guinea pig didn’t matter.  His purpose was to take in the stray animals of the world that God brought across his path.  He continued in God’s will for some time, making arrangements, building the pens, setting up the land in order to fulfill his call.  Then the day came when he found his first stray: a dirty, diseased little fox.  A wily little animal, able to sneak out of the pens and intent on harassing the other pets that had already been a part of the family since before the call had gone forth.  This fox, became such a difficult little animal that our animal rescuer started listening to his friends and family who told him to turn this one out.  Let it go.  Send it back to nature and let the wild world determine its fate.  Maybe someone else will be brought by God to save it. And so he did, he released the fox back to the world.

Do you identify?  Do you have a story like that in your life?  Maybe you aren’t called to be an animal rescuer but you are called to do something! Are the various pressures of life stopping you?.  Are you wondering what next, or if obedience makes sense?  Maybe you are guilty, or repentant, or maybe you are just self-justifying in your disobedience.  Let me read you a story from 1 Sam 15 which is just like our ficticious story:

READ 1 Sam 15:1-21

The story is remarkable, if you really think about it.  There are so many points of correlation to our animal rescuer, there are so many blatant details given about “God’s direction for Saul’s life” that we, modern people long for such direct revelation about what God wants from us.  Let’s walk through the text, allowing me to comment as we go.

Samuel, God’s prophet, comes to Saul, the King saying, (1Sam. 15:1) “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord.”  Right up front we see that God is the authority behind all authority.  God is the one who sets up the rulers of the earth, and so God is presumably also the one who has the authority to direct their steps.  He has the right to tell them what to do and how to do it.  And that concurs with Rom. 13:1 “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

Wouldn’t you love to be in Saul’s place right now, to have the very mouthpiece of God, his prophet come and tell you what to do?  I would love for God to tell me exactly how much money to give to retirement, how much money to give to the church, what decision to make in regard to this project of that, wouldn’t you?  This is what God does for Saul, saying, (1Sam. 15:2-3) “I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.”

Clearly, concisely, and to the point; God tells Saul exactly what he is suppose to do, he even tells him why he is suppose to do it.  These Amalekites had waylaid the Jews at Rephidim.  If you want the story you can read about it in Exodus 17:8-16.  But let me read the commentary on this from Deut. 25:17-19 “Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!”

These folks had terrorized the promised nation of God on their Exodus, acting as foxes picking off the weakest members of the community, terrorizing any who lagged behind the group.  And because of this God commanded early on that they were to be removed from the earth, blotted out of memory, totally destroyed.  Those words totally destroy everything, they mean exactly that totally destroy everything.  Leave nothing, don’t spare a single person, article or animal.  All of them are to be removed from the earth, no vestige of their existence is to be left for posterity, no fragment for a museum collection.  Nothing.  Gone, Gone, Gone. 

You may be asking, what do the cattle, sheep, camels and donkeys have to do with it. And couldn’t the infants at least be saved and raised to know God, are they really under the curse?  To the first, I don’t know why the animals are to be destroyed, seems like a senseless waste of property and to the second, Yes, they are really under the curse.  In short, I don’t understand God’s plan or directions; I am just delivering the message as God delivered it to Saul.

So what does Saul do?  He gathers the army, and sets about preparing for war just like our animal rescuer did in preparing the property and building the pens.  The necessary steps are followed and along the way, the Kenites are asked to move.  They weren’t commanded to be killed and they had been allies of Israel.  (They were the descendants of Moses father in Law; we learn from Judg. 1:16 “The descendants of Moses’ father-in-law, the Kenite, went up from the City of Palms with the men of Judah to live among the people of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad.”  But they were also of the line that Jael, the young women who killed Sisera, came from in Judges 4:11-12.  And one final note of prophetic truth about why the Kenites aren’t destroyed now, Balaam had prophesied so in Numbers 24:20-21 “Amalek was first among the nations, but he will come to ruin at last. Then he saw the Kenites and uttered his oracle: “Your dwelling place is secure, your nest is set in a rock;”  These are friends and allies of Israel, and God wasn’t intent on destroying them.)

Saul takes the necessary steps, attacks and routes the Amalekites and then he spares Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle.  He destroys the bad and weak, but keeps the good and strong and heads off to set up a monument in his own honor (v.12).  Verse 9 says Saul was “unwilling to destroy.” Unwilling, that word is a powerful word.  In the positive sense, or in the sense of being willing to do something, it means that a person consents to an action even if the action is pleasing or not to them personally.  In our context that would mean, Saul is unwilling to consent to the direction of God.  This is the same word used of Pharoah in Exodus 10:27 “But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go.”  Saul is taking on the personality of the quintescential man who was unwilling to obey God – Pharoah.

When Samuel approaches the King, Saul immediately states that he has carried out the Lord’s instructions and when his sin is brought forward he blames the soldiers, just like Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent.  Just like our animal rescuer would blame society for putting too much pressure on him from being able to obey God’s command.  But Saul goes even a step further than just blaming folks.  He lies about their intentions, he says it is to sacrifice to God, but Samuel calls out the truth in verse 19 saying, “Why did you pounce on the plunder…” 

Saul wants the world to believe, and probably in his mind has justified it himself and believes he is serving God and improving on the commandment of the Lord.  Not only will these animals be ultimately destroyed, I can use them in an act of worship and get in on some of the plunder myself.  I can have a number of very fine dinners in the presence of the priests with these good animals.  But Samuel sees right thru it.  He choose the word pounce, a term specifically reserved for predatory animals, particularly birds of prey when they swoop in and take their prey for their own consumption.  Samuel sees that this isn’t pious worship; it is a selfish claim to the good things of life, which is going on in the heart of Saul and the people.

Before I go much further, let me expose my own sin, my own Saul likeness, particularly in the area of adoption. Many of you are aware of our intentions to adopt a child or children. What may surprise you is that I have struggled with feeling like Saul. I know the Lord's intentions and his heart for his people, the Church.  It is summed up very succinctly in Mic. 6:6 “With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  For our family and for many others, that tangibly means adopting the orphan and widow, at least that is how James saw it (1:27) “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

I know how much God desires for his people to be a safe harbor for those in need. I know the call to spend myself on behalf of the poor (Isa 58:10) and yet, there have been times that I don't want to do it. It isn’t always this way, there have been times where I earnestly desired to adopt but there have also been times recently where I haven’t.  The costs associated with an adoption have become large in my mind, large enough to cause me to be wary. (By cost, I mean much more than simply the financial costs, but rather mean the familial and social costs.)  I am the animal rescuer who has listened to the voice of society saying “God will bring someone else to do it.  You already have enough things to worry about, enough responsibility. You needn’t obey here.”

I have contemplated disobedience many times. I have tried to justify it by saying that "Scott you are called to motivate people to adopt, not do it yourself." I have tried to justify my disobedience by saying "another Compassion child would be a sacrifice in keeping with the spirit of God's instruction." And there are countless others thoughts that have run through my mind. Many times the thought has crossed my mind, "Christ died for me, if I disobey, that too will be covered and I will be fine." That thought has been and is a very real thought in my mind, yet my blatant sin, my defiance of God's word and plan for our family, while covered by Christ, is evidence of a heart not in submission to the Lord.

Then there are the thoughts about leadership, "How can I lead, if I myself am not willing to be led into this area? Would I be a hypocrite if I knew God's plan and failed to live into it?" Maybe refused would be a better word, more in line with keeping with Samuel’s rebuke of Saul.  And the truth hurts; yes, I would be a hypocrite refusing to obey my God. So I continue to go through the motions with a heart sometimes inside and sometimes outside of God's revealed word. I continue on in obedience to my Lord, but praying all the while for a heart that is changed and returned to a gracious acceptance of God's plans for His people. This, I believe, is the meaning of discipleship.

That brings me to our passage in 1 Samuel this morning. It was this passage that hit me both positively and negatively a few months ago when my rebellion was as its zenith. Specifically it was Samuel’s words, 1Sam. 15:22-23 “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”

God desires obedience, complete obedience from His people. He isn't concerned with the heart, and whether or not we think His ways are a good idea, or whether or not we have "better" ways of implementing His purposes. No, God wants, nay, God demands that we obey His will as revealed in His Word. Positively I was comforted, obedience is a just form of submission to God as compared to outright rebellion which assumes that I am in an superior position to God; I am conscious of his will and make the conscious choice to defy it, which is totally unexpected given my God’s amazingly merciful treatment of me in the past.  God had been gracious to Saul, elevating him to the kingship, and now Saul defies the very God who set him in authority.  No wonder rebellion is like the sin of divination and urging one to sin like the evil of idolatry.  Both are a direct affront to the reign of God, Saul rebelled, the soldiers urged so Saul gave in to them.  (The term arrogance is really “urging one to do something”.)

Returning to my story, God desires obedience and so I began to feel a little smug about being an obedient disciple, until my heart was pricked by the fact that Christ's obedience is the only obedience that matters in relation to God. He alone is the only one who has always been obedient to every command of God.  He alone is the only one who has ever been fully led by God’s Spirit in every action and thought of his earthly life.  Christ alone has never broken a commandment, or judged another unjustly.  Christ alone has served the oppressed and set the captives free and proclaimed the year of the Lord’s favor.  Christ alone has done all of this, and so Christ alone is the sacrifice that was once and for all, for all times, including every time that my obedience was incomplete or lacking in any way.  And that certainly includes the sin of a heart not joyful to do God's will.

And so we are all cast back upon the cross as our sin is exposed once again.  For who us has always reveled and rejoiced in God’s will for his or her life?  Who of us has known God’s desire for our life and chosen to disobey or improve upon the plan?  Who of us have urged others to not follow the leading of the Spirit in order to justify our own disobedience?  We are all like Saul, for we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23).

But unlike Saul who was rejected because of his disobedience, I will not be rejected because of my disobedience, and neither will you. Saul's rejection doesn't apply to us as long as we are in Christ.  Praise the Lord.  For the Scriptures go on to proclaim after saying, (Rom. 3:23) “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished — 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

Christ’s sacrifice of atonement keeps us from the rejection which Saul experienced.  Christ’s obedience, his sinless perfect life culminating in the one act of righteousness the Father asked of him, to die a death engulfed in sin in order to conquer sin, saves us.  Listen to these passages, Rom. 5:18-19 “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” Or Phil. 2:8 “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!” Heb. 5:8 “Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered."

Christ’s obedience saves us and allows us to be led by a man who was obedient in both heart and action.[1]

Now, a question remains, Are we free from obeying God because Christ obeyed the Lord perfectly? Absolutely not. Nevertheless, in gratitude we are called to obey our Lord even if we don't feel like. But we can always call upon God to change our heart and make it joyful in his will.

As I close, I refer you to contemplate a series of 6 questions included in the bulletin in order to personalize this sermon to your life.

1. Where do you know what God expects but your heart isn't in it?

2. How have you tried to justify your disobedience?

3. Do you desire to obey joyfully?

4. Are you willing to obey even if your heart isn't in it?

5. What steps must you take now to follow God into this new area?

6. Pray for God to change your heart into one that is joyful and exuberant in his will!

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[1] Philip Wendell Crannell, “OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST” [ISBE] “But just as Jesus' growth in knowledge  (Luke 2:52[1]) was not from error to truth, but from partial knowledge to completer, so His "learning obedience" led Him not from disobedience or debate to submission, but from obedience at the present stage to an obedience at ever deeper and deeper cost. The process was necessary for His complete humanity, in which sense He was "made perfect," complete, by suffering. It was also necessary for His perfection as example and sympathetic High Priest. He must fight the human battles under the human conditions. Having translated obedient aspiration and disposition into obedient action in the face of, and in suffering unto, death, even the death of the cross, He is able to lead the procession of obedient sons of God through every possible trial and surrender.”